Minister admits 'rendition' planes used RAF bases

[spindrifter]

Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday March 7, 2006
The Guardian

The government last night admitted for the first time that aircraft suspected of being used by the CIA to transport detainees to secret interrogation centres had landed at British military airfields.
After months of refusing to answer questions from MPs or the media, it disclosed that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire between October 2003 and May 2004. One aircraft, a Boeing 737, was registered N313P, the other, a Gulfstream, was initially registered N379P and later as N8068V.

The flights were disclosed by Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, in a letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, newly elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. Last week, the Liberal Democrats threatened to report the minister to the parliamentary ombudsman if he continued to refuse to answer detailed questions about flights suspected of being used for "extraordinary rendition" - the practice of sending detainees to camps where they were at risk of being tortured.

<snip>

...Michael Moore, the Liberal Democrat's new foreign affairs spokesman, said last night: "Another week, another grudging admission from the government. There is now a well-established pattern of partial disclosures after repeated denials."

<snip>

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,1725223,00.html

[mom cat]

1. Oh that plane. I didn't know you were talking about that plane.

The liers all come from the same school.

[ReadTomPaine]

2. Hard for them to deny the considerable photographic evidence

Sources say they have about 26 planes available for this type of work. It's a growth industry these days.

[spindrifter]

4. The article gives the re-numbers for some of

the planes. You pix are great. The weasel factor is who/what was aboard and for what purpose. I am confident the answers will eventually come out.

[ReadTomPaine]

5. Here's another

[Spazito]

9. Here is an article about N379P and rendition

DEDHAM -- Most here know Hill & Plakias as a family law firm that handles real estate and civil squabbles for the residents of this Boston suburb.

But the inconspicuous office above a Sovereign Bank, across from the red, white, and blue flags of a used car lot called Patriot Motors, is also the address of a shadowy company that owns a Gulfstream jet that secretly ferried two Al Qaeda suspects from Sweden to Egypt.

snip

In recent weeks, the practice has become nearly synonymous with the white, 20-seat, private Gulfstream jet, numbered N379P and registered in Massachusetts.

more

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/11/29/terror_suspects_torture_claims_have_mass_link/

[spindrifter]

11. Did you see this on another

thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2151669

Maybe we are building a nice covert and private airstrip for rendition flights.

[ReadTomPaine]

12. Yes.. the first, albeit short, response in that thread was mine...

I think you're on to something here. Of course, the next step is bringing rendition & gitmo home for us all to enjoy. The private prison industry is salivating at the prospects.

[ReadTomPaine]

3. Screenshot of the FAA registry entry for the N8068V plane:

[spindrifter]

6. At one point I looked up

some of the "registered owners." Wish I had kept that work. Of course, none were currently admitting they knew anything about anything.

[ReadTomPaine]

7. More shots of the planes

[Wilms]

8. Well, well. n/t

[hootinholler]

10. Wow! Mikey got a new gig?

I thought he was doing a healthcare doc.

:evilgrin:

-Hoot